The invention relates to a wiring installation comprising a taping head which serves to encircle the cable with a tape, and a station which receives the taped cable, where these means are together aligned with an unwinding and rotation axis XX' which defines the general unwinding direction of the cable in the installation, and where the stranded cable rotates about the axis downstream of the stranding point whilst the means by which the constituent strands of the cable are emitted do not rotate about the axis, to form a cable taped in the opposite direction to that of the stranding.
A wiring installation of this type is already known.
Conventionally a cable is manufactured in several stages, i.e. firstly the stranding of the constituent strands. The wire rope thus formed is received in a capstan, for example of the "Cook" type, which ensures both the guidance and the traction of the wire rope on a reel. Then the reel, which carries the adequate length of cable, is taken again for passing the wire rope through a taping machine.
An installation of the above-described type also exists which comprises, in a line arrangement, a stranding station including a stranding die, a taping head and a capstan, for example of the "Cook" type, which winds taped cable.
In this known installation, the means which emit the constituent strands are fixed in space and the assembly formed by the means located downstream of the stranding point at which the wire ropes are formed rotates about the axis of the installation in order to preserve the stranding and to prevent it opening until it is wound on the reel in the capstan. In this installation the taping head rotates about the general axis in a direction opposite to that of the rotation of the wire rope. The aim is to add the angular speed of the wire rope and of the taping head so as to increase production without increasing the absolute speed of the taping head. As will be explained later in the description making reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, this oppositely-directed rotation of the taping head and of the wire rope produces a helical taping orientated in the same direction as the windings of the wire rope.
When the cable production is carried out in discontinuous stages with respective take-ups on a reel, it is possible to carry out the taping in an opposite direction to that of the windings of the wire rope since here, when the wire rope has been unwound from its reel in order to proceed to the taping head, the wire rope does not need to rotate aboout the axis of the installation. However, this is conditional upon a discontinuous procedure rather than a line arrangement on the stranding die.
However, if taping is to be carried out in the opposite direction in the known line installation described in the aforegoing, the taping head must rotate in the same direction as the wire rope but at a speed which must be in the order of double that of the wire rope in order to achieve a taping at the same pitch as the wire rope but in the opposite direction.
A solution of this kind cannot be envisaged if the stranding and rotation speeds of the wire rope which can be utilised in practice in such an installation are respected, said speeds being necessary for economic grounds in the manufacturing process. In effect, the rotation speed of the taping head would be unrealisable under acceptable conditions in a technological specification because of the influence of the very considerable centrifugal force on the tape reel and on the rotating electromagnetic brakes of the taping head; a degreasing of the ball bearings and a deformation of the structure would likewise result. Indeed, it would be virtually impossible to maintain a correct dynamic equilibrium. At the level of the transmission of the signals and the electrical supply of the taping head, the high linear speed of the ring/brush assemblies would be a very grave obstacle. Furthermore, the tape used to achieve the taping would be subjected to considerable centrifugal and aerodynamic effects which would prevent correct taping.
A solution of this kind which consists of doubling or substantially increasing the speed of the taping head in order to achieve a taping in the opposite direction to the winding of the wire rope is not possible in current installations.